Thursday, February 18, 2010

Chris' Fill in the Gaps Book List

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you: my fill-in-the-gaps book list.  The list of 100 books I plan to read during the next five years is arranged alphabetically by author and will be read in no particular order. 

Now, I am not going to carve these into stones.  I give myself permission to adjust over the years.  I've already been eyeing the list: too much Dickens?  Not enough Dumas? What about Austen?

And what book should be my first?  I'm leaning toward Dracula, but that's because I wanted to watch the movie Bram Stoker's Dracula as a reward.  I enjoyed watching that movie at apheresis (almost as much as I enjoyed the irony).

What do you think?  Have I chosen books you love?  Did I miss one of your favorites?  Let me know!


Chris' Fill in the Gaps Book List


Things Fall Apart
Chinua
Achebe

Foundation
Isaac
Asimov

Pride and Prejudice
Jane
Austen

Sense and Sensibility
Jane
Austen

Sundays With Vlad
Paul
Bibeau
The
Lost Symbol
Dan
Brown
The
Good Earth
Pearl S.
Buck
A
Little Princess
Frances Hodgson
Burnett
The
Secret Garden
Frances Hodgson
Burnett

Cold Sassy Tree
Olive Ann
Burns
The
Land that Time Forgot
Edgar Rice
Burroughs

Tobacco Road
Erskine
Caldwell
The
Plague
Albert
Camus

Ender's Game
Orson Scott
Card

Death Comes for the Archbishop
Willa
Cather

O Pioneers
Willa
Cather
The
Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Michael
Chabon
The
Big Sleep
Raymond
Chandler
The
Stories of John Cheever
John
Cheever

Girl with the Pearl Earring
Tracy
Chevalier
The
Woman in White
Wilkie
Collins

Moll Flanders
Daniel
DeFoe
The
Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Junot
Diaz
A
Tale of Two Cities
Charles
Dickens

David Copperfield
Charles
Dickens

Little Dorrit
Charles
Dickens

Oliver Twist
Charles
Dickens

Great Expectations
Charles
Dickens
The
Count of Monte Cristo
Alexandre
Dumas
The
Man in the Iron Mask
Alexandre
Dumas
The
Last Cavalier
Alexandre
Dumas
A
Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Dave
Eggers

Middlemarch
George
Eliot

Madame Bovary
Gustave
Flaubert

Where Angels Fear to Tread
E.M.
Forster
The
Corrections
Jonathan
Franzen
The
Quiet American
Graham
Greene

Goodbye, Mr. Chips
James
Hilton

Lost Horizon
James
Hilton
Les
Miserables
Victor
Hugo

Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale
Hurston
The
Lost Weekend
Charles R.
Jackson
The
Haunting of Hill House
Shirley
Jackson
The
Portrait of a Lady
Henry
James

Three Men in a Boat
Jerome K
Jerome

Up the Down Staircase
Bel
Kaufman

On the Road
Jack
Kerouac

Please Don’t Eat the Daisies
Jean
Kerr
The
Poisonwood Bible
Barbara
Kingsolver
The
Jungle Books
Rudyard
Kipling
The
Man Who Would Be King
Rudyard
Kipling
A
Separate Peace
John
Knowles

Little Drummer Girl
John
LeCarre
The
Golden Notebook
Doris
Lessing

Sliver
Ira
Levin

Elmer Gantry
Sinclair
Lewis
The
Monk
Matthew Gregory
Lewis
The
Call of the Wild
Jack
London

The Annotated H.P. Lovecraft
H.P.
Lovecraft

One Hundred Years of Solidude
Gabriel Garcia
Marquez

Love in the Time of Cholera
Gabriel Garcia
Marquez
The
Road
Cormac
McCarthy
The
Member of the Wedding
Carson
McCullers

Atonement
Ian
McEwan

Lonesome Dove
Larry
McMurty

Moby-Dick
Herman
Melville

Peyton Place
Grace
Metalious
The
Seven-Per-Cent Solution
Nicholas
Meyer

Beloved
Toni
Morrison

Lolita
Vladimir
Nabokov

Suite Francaise
Irene
Nemirovsky
A
Confederacy of Dunces
John Kennedy
O'Toole

Doctor Zhivago
Boris
Pasternak

Bel Canto
Ann
Patchett

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Robert M.
Pirsig

Atlas Shrugged
Ayn
Rand
The
Fountainhead
Ayn
Rand

All Quiet on the Western Front
Erich Maria
Remarque

Home
Marylynne
Robinson
The
Human Stain
Philip
Roth
The
God of Small Things
Arundathi
Roy

Midnight’s Children
Salman
Rushdie

Sarum
Edward
Rutherford

Frankenstein
Mary
Shelley

Enemies, A Love Story
Isaac Bashevis
Singer

Angle of Repose
Wallace
Steigner

Dracula
Bram
Stoker
The
Valley of the Dolls
Jacqueline
Suzanne
The
Magnificent Ambersons
Booth
Tarkington
The
Man who Fell to Earth
Walter
Tevis

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Hunter S.
Thompson

Anna Karenina
Leo
Tolstoy

War and Peace
Leo
Tolstoy

All the King's Men
Robert Penn
Warren

Brideshead Revisited
Evelyn
Waugh

Night
Elie
Weisel

Journey to the Center of the Earth
H.G.
Wells

Trainspotting
Irvine
Welsh
The
Age of Innocence
Edith
Wharton
The
Inimitable Jeeves
P.G.
Wodehouse

1001 Nights / Arabian Nights




2 comments:

Richard Goodman said...

Yes, I would start with Dracula. It is a fun bit of gothic literature. That way, you knock one off but enjoy it without seeming like you've u8ndertaken a chore. From your list, I've pikced out a few that are really funny so you can do those when you need to cleanse your brain from the serious stuff.

The Land that Time Forgot Edgar Rice Burroughs
Oliver Twist Charles Dickens
Great Expectations Charles Dickens
The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas
The Man in the Iron Mask Alexandre Dumas
Frankenstein Mary Shelley
Dracula Bram Stoker
Journey to the Center of the Earth H.G. Wells
1001 Nights / Arabian Nights

These ones below were good as well, but they weren't "fun". In fact, some of themn will seriously depress if I remember correctly. Good luck!

On the Road Jack Kerouac
A Separate Peace John Knowles
The Call of the Wild Jack London
Moby-Dick Herman Melville
Beloved Toni Morrison

Chris said...

Yeah, a few seem a little more daunting than others, like Moby-Dick vs. Jeeves....